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They say location is everything, well then our residents at Stadium Place have it all!

Stadium Place sits right in the heart of Seattle’s most famous neighborhood, Pioneer Square. Packed with history, Pioneer Square has become a Seattle hot spot for revolutionary restaurateurs who have transformed the neighborhood into a true culinary destination.

Eateries in Pioneer Square frequent the lists of Seattle’s “Best,” “Hottest,” and “Go to Now” restaurants. Conveniently for Stadium Place residents, the delicious dishes created at these establishments are being served just minutes from their apartments. You can’t beat living less than a 10 minute walk from your front door to some of the best culinary experiences in Seattle! The following is a list of just a few of our nearby favorites:

Fourth of July is almost here and what better way to celebrate Independence day than with a barbecue! Which is why we asked the experts in meats and grilling from around our Pioneer Square to share with us (and you!) everything they know so we can become experts in grilling, too!

Step one: Where to get your meat

To get the best meat for grilling, skip the grocery store and go straight to the butcher. We visited the best butcher shop in Pioneer Square to get an inside scoop on the best meat to grill. But what Joe Harper, an expert butcher at Rainshadow Meats shared is much more than just meat, but also how to prepare and cook it right.

At Rainshadow Meats, they care where their product comes from, which is why they only choose local, small farm, 100% grass-fed meat so you can get the best quality. For Joe, choosing the best cuts depends on what you’re going to do with it, because there are really no bad cuts.

Are you making a salad? They have the perfect flat iron skirt steak for it.

Do you want a show stopper? Joe suggested their big, bone-in, rib eye steak.

Looking for something with a marinade? Joe’s go-to is a sirloin flap because it holds the marinade really well.

Making Kebabs? Shoulder pieces are the best for this. Top sirloin is your best option to keep some tenderness.

Joe explained sometimes the tastiest steak can be simplest to make. By sprinkling salt and pepper and cooking right you can make a mouthwatering steak with little effort. Cooking it right is the tricky part, he says you should first and foremost make the thermometer your best friend. Trying to get the perfect medium-rare steak? Cook it until it reaches 115-120 degrees Fahrenheit then take it off the grill to rest. Joe’s rule of thumb is to let it rest half the total cooking time.

Step two: Know the grilling basics

Turn the grill on several minutes before you want to begin grilling. You want the grill nice and hot for when you begin.

Grab a paper towel and soak it in oil, grab it with tongs and rub it over the rack to avoid the meat from sticking to the grill.

Pat your meat dry with a paper towel before you place it on the grill to get the perfect sear.

Grill pans are great for giving the smoky flavor to vegetables and fruits without them falling through the rack.

Step three: Recipes

You have your meat and basic grilling tips, all you need now is a few recipes for your meat to make your BBQ perfect. Here are five of our favorites.

We love Cinco de Mayo in Seattle! That means all the great Mexican joints nearby have food and drink specials. So if you are still trying to decide, here is our favorite and what they have to offer this Cinco de Mayo:

Casco Antiguo

Source: http://cascoantiguoseattle.com/

One of our absolute favorite Mexican restaurants. The best part is, they have Cinco de Mayo food and drink specials starting at 3 p.m., including $4 ceviche, $3 tacos and $6 tap margaritas!

Source: Casco Antiguo website.

But if you’ve decided that the rainy weather we have today in Seattle isn’t your ideal Cinco de Mayo day to go out, you can always do your own fiesta at home! Invite a couple of friends and tell your roommate to get ready because your place is going to host an epic Cinco de Mayo FIESTA and we’ll help make sure that happens.

We have the best Cinco de Mayo food and drink recipes to help you throw an unforgettable party.

It all starts with the food…

Best EVER pork tacos. These pork meat is so flavorful you will not have leftovers. Get the recipe here. Local tip: get the pork meat from Rainshadow Meats.

The SIMPLEST oven-roasted chicken fajitas. All the traditional ingredients put together in a pan in the oven and voila! Delicious fajitas with minimal work—perfect for an impromptu fiesta. Get the recipe here.

Source: Rachel Schultz

Cheesy Chicken Flautas. A quick and easy flautas recipe that everyone will love! Because who can resist cheesy chicken wrapped in a tortilla?! Get the recipe here.

Source: Jo Cooks

Healthy Choice. If you’re going for more of a healthy snack kind of vibe for your get together, then try some of these 5 healthy Cinco de Mayo snacks.

And while you wait for the food to cook, don’t forget to sip on some of these Mexican beverages.

Best Margarita Recipe. If you like the classics, then we have the perfect margarita for you. Get the recipe here.

Mexican beer and soda. Try Sol, Corona or Dos equis for your beer and don’t forget the Coke or Sprite in glass bottles straight from Mexico!

Source: Stylemepretty.com

Tequila. We can’t forget about the tequila! The good thing about REALLY good tequila is that you don’t need lime or salt. Try Espolon Blanco, Milagro, Don Julio Real or Centenario, but there are many other good ones.

Dani Cone, part owner of Cone and Steiner, also established High 5 Pies and brings to Cone and Steiner her delicious pies. Using her Grandma Molly’s pie crust recipe, High 5 Pie has a wide variety of some of the best pies in our neighborhood, and they are right in our building!

They’ve got sweet and savory pies alike, but they don’t limit it to regular 9 inch pies, they also offer a wide variety of pie options:

Pie Jar

Courtesy of High 5 Pie

Flipsides

Courtesy of High 5 Pies

Mini Pies and much more!

Courtesy of High 5 Pies

And our absolute favorite is Almond Cherry Pie!

Courtesy of High 5 Pie

Stop by Cone and Steiner for some of this delicious pie, you can thank us later!

If your idea of a festive Thanksgiving includes delicious food, but is missing the part about the stress and hassle of cooking, you’re in luck. This year, you can skip the turkey thawing, pie prepping and table setting, thanks to your friends running restaurants in and around Pioneer Square. No hours of grocery shopping, cooking or entertaining? Now that’s something to be grateful about! Here are some local hot spots to gather round this Thursday:

Last week we brought you some recipes to elevate your BBQ to the next level. This week, we have some suggestions for tasty libations. Pioneer Square is home to some fantastic bartenders. So here are some drinks based on each of our favorite spirits, from some of our favorite localicious neighborhood bars.

Note: Most of these recipes don’t list measurements for each ingredient. In general, start with 1.5oz of the alcohol involved, and distribute the rest to taste. You’ll probably just need a dash of things like bitters, peppers and lime juice, and a little more soda or other fillers. Most of these are meant to be served in a cocktail or martini glass, which only hold 5 – 6 oz total.

We’ve flown through Fourth of July and sailed through Seafair. But everyone in Seattle knows the sun will be shining another couple of months, with sunsets that stretch clear into the late evening. And what is a better way to celebrate the back half of summer, than grilling on the rooftop of your building?

You may or may not remember that you have a handy gas grill up there, with great views and plenty of room to cook for, entertain and delight your guests. So over the next two weeks, we thought we’d provide some tips and recipes to take your barbecue past the burgers and hot dog stage and into something completely memorable.

Tips from an Expert

Before we get started with some recipes and other helpful resources, let’s get some grilling advice from an expert. Andrew Brays is the owner of Pinky’s Kitchen, one of the finest places to enjoy barbecue in the Puget Sound. Pinky’s is located in a little truck in Wallingford, but the small location packs huge flavor. Pinky’s has giant smokers where they season their meats for a long period of time, but we asked Andrew for his number one tip for using a gas grill.

“Here’s a general tip to help every beginner. Keep an eye on the “hotspots” on the grill. Inevitably most non-commercial grills have hotspots and things will cook unevenly especially, when trying to sear at high temperature. Keep an eye on them and be ready to shuffle things around to get even cooking and sears. Also, when cooking steak use a internal thermometer probe (they are cheap and easily available) if you want to really be sure you are doing rare, med rare, med and well done requests. The thermometer is also great for chicken and sausages. Pull the meat immediately as soon as it hits 165 (or less if you want rarer meat) to stop it from drying out.”

Seattle Barbecue Recipes

Next, we found some Puget Sound recipes that will make you look more like Bobby Flay than Ronald McDonald. Here are some links to some great recipes from Seattle’s famous restaurateur, Tom Douglas.

Besides his grilling tip, Andrew provided us a recipe that’s not on his menu at Pinky’s. As a native Australian, he knows a little about Shrimp on the Barbie. Here’s his authentic Australian recipe.

Ingredients:

2lbs Easy-peel headless shrimp

Jar of Mama Lils Honkin Hot Peppers

4 TBSP oil from the Mama Lils jar

1 head cilantro

15-20 medium to large Garlic cloves

1/2 cup orange juice with pulp

1 TSP salt (or to taste)

4 limes halved

Metal or soaked wooden skewers

Instructions:

To make fresh whole shrimp easy peel, simply remove heads and snip open their backs using scissors down to the tail. Clean under running water if necessary. Prepping them this way enables the marinade to permeate and the shells easy to remove when eating.

Cut the stalks off the cilantro just under where it starts to bushel.

Rough chop all the ingredients EXCEPT the lime in a food processor using the pulse, or fine chop by hand. You want a consistency that is a little runny and not too combined so the ingredients still stand alone. A medium to fine chop.

Place prepped prawns in a zip lock and add the paste. Mix it around well by squeezing the bag to get the paste into all the nooks and crannies of the prawns.

Place in fridge for 2 to 4 hours. (If you are pressed for time 1/2 hour works.)

On a tray double skewer the prawns (don’t refer to the picture they are not single skewered). But this is VERY important because the cook time is fast and if you are dealing with hot and cold spots on your grill you want to be able to flip them and move them without them spinning. To double skewer like in the picture but you put two skewers parallel to each other through the prawn about 1/2 inch apart.

Heat your grill to as high as it will go. You want to char the shells before the prawns are overcooked ideally. If you can’t get it hot enough for a rapid char, don’t worry. It’s more important to just pull the shrimp off before they overcook.

Place skewers on grill. There should be a definite sizzle. Cook for two to three minutes a side depending on the prawn size. Flip them the first time when the colour has changed half way through and hopefully the shells have charred. You may need to shuffle them around. The prawns are cooked the minute the opaqueness is gone in the centre of the prawn.

While they are cooking, liberally squeeze lime juice over them.

When cooked, remove skewers and serve in a bowl with a bowl for shells. Grab plenty of napkins and some extra lime wedges.

Where to Get Meat

The epicureans among you will know that the best and worst chefs in the world can benefit from high quality ingredients. So we found a place in your neighborhood if you want to step up your meat and serve something really special.

Rain Shadow Meats http://www.rainshadowmeats.com/ at 404 Occidental Ave South is a full service butchery featuring all local meats, house made Charcutiere, and a custom curing room. It’s located a few blocks away, on the edge of Pioneer Square. Their goal is bring back the local neighborhood butcher, and works with local farms to provide them a way to reach people like us. Not just your source for great meat and cheese, you can also learn about food at their classes, as well as get custom cuts and special orders.

Get Wine

What night on a rooftop deck with a gourmet meal would be complete without the perfect bottle of wine? Again, if you want to go a class above your typical grocery store, we suggest a trip to your neighborhood wine store where you can ask the proprietor for a selection hat will go perfectly with you menu.

Up the street a few blocks near Pike Place (1435 1st Ave) is one of Seattle’s hidden treasures, Delaurenti. Head upstairs to find the most complete selection of Italian wines in the city. But they don’t stop in Italy, in total they offer more than 1,800 selections wines from the Northwest and around the world.

Next week we’ll bring you some recipes for Specialty Cocktails from your local neighborhood bars. If you have a favorite recipe or BBQ tip to share with the community, tell us in the comments below.

It’s tough to figure out what’s going on inside The London Plane at first. Is it a restaurant? Is it a larder/grocery? Is it a bakery? Is it a wine shop? Is it a florist? Is it a classroom? The answer is yes. Yes, it is all of these things.

We’d be here for another three days if we dug super deep and explored every single thing that this place does well (hint: it’s basically everything), so instead, we’re going to take a look at a single section of their food menu.

It’s safe to say that Seattle’s right in the middle of egg season (just look in the seasonal aisle at your local grocery store if you don’t believe us), but we aren’t here talk about the Cadbury variety. We want to talk about that old school breakfast staple, and take a look at how The London Plane’s cooking them up right.

Hit this place up for breakfast, and there’s a good chance (no guarantees though, they’re always mixing it up) that a section of the menu is going to look like this:

All of these are rad. Seriously. You cannot go wrong picking any of these menu items. Our faith in the unwavering awesomeness of this place is so strong that once we ordered the soft boiled one with dukkah and we didn’t even know what dukkah was (FYI, they very politely explained to us that it’s an Egyptian mixture of herbs, nuts, and spices).

So here’s what you do to maximize your time/egg consumption at The London Plane. 1) Go to this place for breakfast and take a friend. 2) You order the eggs. 3) Make your friend order a pastry. 4) Mooch bites from their plate while you fiercely guard your own.

For the next few weeks, Seattle’s turning into a food-lover’s paradise. During April 6-10 and April 13-17, it’s Seattle Restaurant week! There’s never been a better time to head out and explore some of the great localicious options within walking distance of your neighborhood.

How does it work, you ask? It’s super simple. Go here and find the closest restaurants to your neighborhood participating. Then, go to that restaurant and select three courses from their special Restaurant Week menu for only $28.

This time around, there’s not a ton of strictly Stadium District options right near you, but don’t worry, there’s a ton just a short walk away. Here’s a few we think you’ll dig:

1. McCormick’s Fish House and Bar: It doesn’t get more classic Northwest than it does at this venerable Seattle seafood institution. There’s a reason this place has been around since 1912, and their Restaurant Week menu shows that reason off. 722 Fourth Ave. Seattle, WA 98104

2. Café Campagne – A quiet little bistro that wouldn’t be out of place on a busy Paris street has found a home in downtown Seattle, serving up classically awesome French cuisine. Check out their special menu and see what all the (well-deserved) fuss is about! 1600 Post Alley Seattle, Washington 98101

3. Lecosho – It’s hearty, it’s unique, and it’s secluded. Hit up this hidden Harbor Steps (it’s about halfway down the stairs) hideout for some of the best full-flavored dishes around. They’ve got some interesting options this Restaurant Week (especially at lunch!), so don’t miss out on your chance to give them a try. 89 University Street Seattle, WA 98101

Don’t limit yourself to just walking tours of Restaurant Week, either! Check out the full neighborhood list right here, hit the town, and let us know where else you’ve explored.

Take me out to the ballgame! Whether it’s game day and you need a place to stop pre-game, or it’s an away game and you need a place for good food and drink, Pioneer Square has plenty of options. Here are a few we frequent.

1. FX McCrory’s

Location: 419 Occidental St, Seattle, WA 98104

Summary: It’s the classic pre-game Mariners bar going back to the days of the Kingdome. Owner Mick McHugh is a Seattle legend, and you’ll often see him at the front desk greeting patrons. Vegetarians are the only people who don’t like their Prime Rib sandwich, and if you can’t find a scotch on the menu that you like, then you just aren’t trying.

Summary: You may know Fuel as that really loud and crazy place you walk by before Sounders games. Yes, it’s the official home of the Emerald City Supporters, but with tons of TV’s it’s also a place to watch all sports. Don’t let the soccer crazies scare you off.

What Are Locals Saying?“Awesome sports bar with tv’s everywhere and great drink specials!” Via Kelly T on Yelp.com.

3. Henry’s 1st Ave Tavern

Location: 1518 1st Ave S, Seattle, WA 98134

Summary: A newer entry to the Pioneer Square / SoDo scene, Henry’s is the closest bar to the Home Plate gate at Safeco. It’s a step upscale from your typical ballgame sports bars, and with plenty of TV’s and great food, it’s worth a visit for sure.

What Are Locals Saying? “I am still in love with Henry’s! Even though it say tavern they are super family friendly!!” – Via Alvean M on Yelp.com.

4. Sluggers Sports Bar

Location: 539 Occidental Ave S, Seattle, WA 98104

Summary: If you are looking for a diverse group of casual fans attending a game for the first time, Sluggers is not the place to go. The super skinny spot has booths that face more TV’s than you can count over the bar – all showing different games. If you are the kind of person who likes to watch eight games at once, Sluggers is your choice.

What Are Locals Saying? “This is THE place to be before, (during if you don’t have tix), and after any Seattle home game.” Via Nathan B on Yelp.com.

5. Temple Billiards

Location: 126 S Jackson St, Seattle, WA 98104

Summary: It’s a little hidden, but those in the know appreciate Temple Billiards for it’s pre-game pizzas and pool tables. It’s not a classic sports bar in that you will not be overloaded with LED’s. And while there’s always the chance for chaos and enthusiasm in the center of the bar, there are plenty of spots to sneak away and enjoy conversation.